GALLANT DON JOHN
Next in the pageant passed the great corsairs of the battle of Lepanto, where the Turks, then at the height of their glory, suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of the brilliant young emperor, Don John of Austria.
The Moslems, before this historic date of October 7, 1571, were threatening to overwhelm Europe. They desired to make the rich island of Cyprus one of their stepping-stones to the mainland. Venice, who owned the island, resisted the claims of the infidels. The Moslems thereupon threatened to conquer Venice herself. That city's fleet was too small to cope with the great navy of the Turks. Philip II of Spain, appealed to by Pope Pius V, went to her aid. The Holy League to protect Christendom against the infidels was formed.
Don John of Austria, brother of Philip, was chosen to lead the Christian fleet. He was tall and handsome, and, although only twenty-four, had distinguished himself in wars against the Moors. He went to join his navy in a dress of white velvet and cloth of gold. A crimson scarf floated from his breast. Snow-white plumes adorned his cap. He looked every inch a hero, and every inch a hero he proved himself to be.
He found himself at the head of the greatest Christian fleet that had ever assembled to fight the corsairs. Three hundred vessels and eighty thousand men sailed forth under his command. The men were incited to battle by news of the almost unbelievable cruelties the Moslems had inflicted upon the Venetian garrison of a city in Cyprus which they had captured. The captain of the Venetian troops, Bragadino, had had his ears and nose cut off. He was next led around before the Turkish batteries, crawling on hands and knees, laden with two baskets of earth. Whenever he passed the quarters of the Turkish general, he was forced to kiss the ground. Next, with Mustapha, the Moslem general, looking on, he was flayed alive, and his skin, stuffed with straw, was then paraded through the town.
Resolved to end forever such atrocities, the Christian fleet sought that of Ali Pasha, the Turkish admiral. Three hundred galleys, with one hundred and twenty thousand men, composed the Moslem fleet. They came on with their decks covered with flags and streamers, while, hid by this glory of banners, the galley slaves, chained to the oars, toiled beneath the lash. The two fleets met near the Gulf of Lepanto. Don John's lookout, from his perch on the main-top, discovered a white sail. Behind it came sail after sail, until the full strength of the Turkish navy was in sight.
Don John ran up his signal for battle—a white flag—and went in his gig from galley to galley, encouraging his men.
"Ready, Sir, and the sooner the better!" they replied to his question as to their preparedness.
As a last act before battle, Don John unfurled a standard containing the figure of the Saviour, fell on his knees and prayed for God's blessing on his cause, then formed his line of battle. The fire from the huge floating castles that belonged to his fleet created a panic among the Turks and broke their line. The ships of both sides came together in a confused mass, so that their decks, almost joined together, formed a huge platform upon which the Christians and Turks battled.
Ali Pasha, the Moslem admiral, came alongside of Don John's ship and was on the point of boarding it when the galley of the Spanish captain Colonna rammed his vessel, while its crew poured a destroying fire across the Turkish galley's deck. Ali Pasha was slain. The Ottoman emblem fluttered down from the mast of the flagship, and the Christian ensign rose in its place. Heartened by this victory, the other Christian galleys triumphed over their foes. Such Turkish ships as were able to escape fled, pursued by the Christians. The Moslems lost over two hundred ships. Twenty thousand of their men perished. The Christian fleet lost over seven thousand men. Twelve thousand Christian slaves were set free from the Turkish galleys.
The Pope who had urged that the Christian fleet be assembled cried in thanksgiving: "There was a man sent from God, whose name was John."